World Usability Day
What It Is
"Create Great Usability Requirements - A WUD Webinar"
To celebrate World Usability Day 2008, join Government Usability Experts Mary Theofanos and Sharon Laskowski of NIST on Thursday, November 13, 2008, 2:00-3:00pm ET, for a webinar in how to use the great new usability requirements toolkit called CISUR ("Scissor").
Read our new CISUR Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).
Register your webinar seat now at: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/767257267
This webinar is sponsored by the Web Managers Forum User Experience Task Group (UXTG). Government and non-government participants are welcome. It's a free event but registration is required.
An annual event, World Usability Day is an Earth-Day-style celebration focusing on easy-to-use technology. Over 40,000 in 41 countries have organized hundreds of events to heighten awareness of usable websites and user-centered design activities.
Why It's Important
The purpose of CISUR is to help you—web managers, usability specialists, and IT project managers—create useful and usable products that allow users to complete their tasks efficiently, effectively, and with satisfaction. CISUR was developed by usability experts at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for use by government employees and vendors.
Specific Requirements
CISUR integrates with all types of development processes and formats. If you don't have an established requirements format, you can use the CISUR examples as a guide. You can use CISUR for all types of projects, from the smallest or most informal to complex or formally specified products.
CISUR also may be used with the Common Industry Format for Usability Testing (CIF), which has been accepted as the International Standards Organization (ISO) standard for summative (final) usability reports.
How to Implement
- Participate in the November 13 webinar introducing CISUR to our community
- Download and read CISUR. The first 15 pages contain the basic standard; the rest of the document is examples, templates, and other support resources
- Try CISUR on your next web design or development project
- Volunteer to be part of a NIST case study in the use of CISUR. Email NIST, iusr@nist.gov
- Join the Web Managers Forum listserv and the User Experience Task Group (government employees only) to network with others using CISUR
Examples
Draft GSA Statement of Work for Accessibility/508 Services (PDF, 158 KB, October 29, 2008, requires Adobe Acrobat Reader ) Note: This SOW is a draft document; it has not yet been implemented by GSA.
Other examples will be posted as they become available.
Resources
- CISUR: NIST Common Industry Standard for Usability Requirements
- What is the CISUR? (NIST)
- CISUR FAQs (GSA)
- Email iusr@nist.gov for more information about CISUR and to volunteer for the case study
Previous World Usability Day Events and Resources
- World Usability Day 2007: "Government Careers in Usability"
- World Usability Day 2006: "Make Yourself Useful"
Page Updated or Reviewed: October 29, 2008
